Did I say I was saying goodbye to the Winter Meetings? Well, sure, but they’re more a state of mind than an actual location anyway, so I can pass along some buzz I just heard from a major league source: The Cubs and Rays are discussing a Matt Garza trade.

I know some have discounted the possibility of such a beast — and I don’t have any intelligence about the type of return Tampa Bay could expect — but I’m hearing that as of a few minutes ago, the Rays and Cubs are “working on it.”

Shipping Garza out to make room for Hellickson makes a lot of sense. Ideally, they’d get something to help their offense, either this year or moving forward when, even without Garza, their rotation becomes something to behold.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to ship out Shields or Niemann to make room for Hellickson? When they’re good, they do good work. They’re just unreliable. Why would they get rid of their number two pitcher when the bullpen is virtually empty?

I don’t really understand this one. I highly doubt the Cubs would be willing to part with Sterling Castro or Geovany Soto, and those are the only pieces on their entire roster that I could see the Rays wanting.

I don’t think they have the prospects to match up either. Maybe Brett Jackson plus some others? Brett Jackson isn’t that great, though.